Big crowds and fine weather turned the Easter weekend for the Carnival of the Pines into a&nbsp;sparkling affair. Never before has such gaiety attended Port Macquarie's Easter weekend and&nbsp;even those coming back to the Carnival for the ninth time found new interests and&nbsp;entertainment. For general interest the Fishing Club's contest held a high place; procession&nbsp;day yesterday attracted the usual crowds and the parade of floats was well up to standards of&nbsp;previous years, while&nbsp;for grand spectacle there were innovations with the skiers at the&nbsp;Aquatic Gardens and the parachutists and planes at the air pageant. The big disappointment was the rain on Sunday which spoilt the day, not only for the&nbsp;organisers but the many hundreds of people who went to and came away from the Aquatic&nbsp;Gardens because of the rain. As it was, many braved the heavy showers and the skiers from&nbsp;Coffs Harbour did not let the public down and turned the wet afternoon into a grand&nbsp;spectacle. Many of the skiers performed again yesterday when the speed boat races were&nbsp;held. In what police estimate to be the biggest Easter crowd ever, and very close to Xmas,&nbsp;attended the main street and fun of the fair on the green. On the stage on the green in front of&nbsp;a large crowd&nbsp;Don Middlebrook was introduced as the carnival compere by the president&nbsp;of the carnival, W.A.&nbsp;Thomas. Mr&nbsp;Middlebrook then had the honour of presenting the&nbsp;three lovely contestants for the queen competition: Margaret Stanley (sports),&nbsp;Sue&nbsp;Goodwin (accommodation), and&nbsp;Nita Scaysbrook (business), to the audience. Procession results Yesterday's procession proved to be an outstanding success with many excellent floats&nbsp;entered. The judges were Mr&nbsp;and Mrs&nbsp;Ken Gillespie, of Malaya, and Mrs&nbsp;Roy Smith, of&nbsp;Sydney. Winners were: Most Original -&nbsp;Garden Club; Sports Float -&nbsp;Surf Club; Business Float -&nbsp;Oxley County Council; Trade Float -&nbsp;Burrawan Motel; Most Comical -&nbsp;Rotary Club; Historical -&nbsp;Historical Society; Queen's Float - sports queen (Margaret Stanley). Angling Club contest&nbsp; The Port Macquarie Angling Club conducted a very successful fishing contest on Saturday&nbsp;and Sunday at their first attempt. Speaking at the presentation of prizes, the president, Mr&nbsp;Bev&nbsp;Bennett, said the club was very pleased with the response they had received and&nbsp;predicted the fishing contest would build up to a very big carnival affair. He praised the&nbsp;efforts of the secretary, Nev&nbsp;Hope, saying he had done a wonderful job. He also thanked the&nbsp;carnival committee for their support in assisting the Angling Club. The secretary thanked&nbsp;everyone for the support they had received, saying the club had learnt a lot from this contest&nbsp;and hoped to be able to put on a much bigger one at a later date. A fishing rod, donated by&nbsp;Slazengers, and a reel donated by Alvy, were won by Doug Rye&nbsp;of Gloucester. These&nbsp;two firms, Slazengers and Alvy, have been very good to the club and it is appreciated by&nbsp;members. Reference was also made at the presentation of the work of&nbsp;Frank Turner, who&nbsp;acted as recorder.

Easter weekend 1963 alive with events in the Carnival of the Pines despite bad weather

And the winner is: Maria Ashley, Lorraine Jones, June McPherson, Jonny Southey and Glynnis Morcom on the Oxley County Council's winning float, 1963.

Big crowds and fine weather turned the Easter weekend for the Carnival of the Pines into a sparkling affair.

Never before has such gaiety attended Port Macquarie's Easter weekend and even those coming back to the Carnival for the ninth time found new interests and entertainment.

For general interest the Fishing Club's contest held a high place; procession day yesterday attracted the usual crowds and the parade of floats was well up to standards of previous years, while for grand spectacle there were innovations with the skiers at the Aquatic Gardens and the parachutists and planes at the air pageant.

Palms not pines: Mayor Ald Crisp (at right) hands a civic address of welcome to the mayor of Cooma, Ald Johnson at the opening of the Carnival of the Pines, 1963.

The big disappointment was the rain on Sunday which spoilt the day, not only for the organisers but the many hundreds of people who went to and came away from the Aquatic Gardens because of the rain.

As it was, many braved the heavy showers and the skiers from Coffs Harbour did not let the public down and turned the wet afternoon into a grand spectacle.

Many of the skiers performed again yesterday when the speed boat races were held. In what police estimate to be the biggest Easter crowd ever, and very close to Xmas, attended the main street and fun of the fair on the green.

On the stage on the green in front of a large crowd Don Middlebrook was introduced as the carnival compere by the president of the carnival, W.A. Thomas.

Mr Middlebrook then had the honour of presenting the three lovely contestants for the queen competition: Margaret Stanley (sports), Sue Goodwin (accommodation), and Nita Scaysbrook (business), to the audience.

Procession results

Yesterday's procession proved to be an outstanding success with many excellent floats entered.

The judges were Mr and Mrs Ken Gillespie, of Malaya, and Mrs Roy Smith, of Sydney.

The Port Macquarie Angling Club conducted a very successful fishing contest on Saturday and Sunday at their first attempt.

Speaking at the presentation of prizes, the president, Mr Bev Bennett, said the club was very pleased with the response they had received and predicted the fishing contest would build up to a very big carnival affair.

He praised the efforts of the secretary, Nev Hope, saying he had done a wonderful job. He also thanked the carnival committee for their support in assisting the Angling Club.

The secretary thanked everyone for the support they had received, saying the club had learnt a lot from this contest and hoped to be able to put on a much bigger one at a later date.

A fishing rod, donated by Slazengers, and a reel donated by Alvy, were won by Doug Rye of Gloucester. These two firms, Slazengers and Alvy, have been very good to the club and it is appreciated by members. Reference was also made at the presentation of the work of Frank Turner, who acted as recorder.